STRESS IN POLICE

Stress in Police

Stress in Police

Introduction

Stress and exhaustion are two major job-related factors that have the potential to affect spouses' pattern of emotional responses, including their emotional experience and their level of physiological arousal. Researchers have found that individuals experience more intense negative affect under conditions of greater stress and that greater amounts of daily life stress are associated with reports of greater negative mood and less positive mood (Blau, 1994).

Daily life stress resulting from interpersonal conflicts may have the greatest impact on an individual's mood. At the physiological level, both stress hormones and negative emotions produce increased autonomic nervous system (ANS) arousal (i.e., the “fight or flight” response), which helps prepare the organism to adapt to the demands of the environment. Although this rapid response of the nervous system to environmental challenges is generally adaptive, it also can have detrimental consequences. Couples, especially those in troubled marriages, have been found to demonstrate increased emotional arousal during marital conflict, including high levels of ANS activation. Being in a state of increased arousal can make it more difficult to think clearly and problem-solve effectively. We suspect that stress from one's job will precipitate this kind of arousal state, further potentiating ANS increases during marital interaction.

Physical exhaustion is another potentially important factor that may impact on marital processes. Exhaustion drains an individual's energy, making it more difficult to produce the kinds of affective responses that facilitate social interactions. Employees who come home exhausted have been found to be more angry, anxious, to complain more, and to be less cheerful. When fatigued, it becomes more difficult for couples to engage in positive interactions and to communicate and problem-solve effectively. Physical exhaustion resulting from inadequate sleep can lower an individual's threshold for activating negative emotional responses. Thus, it is important to examine the extent to which exhaustion (e.g., from working night shifts or from a physically active workday) negatively impacts marriage.

Although job stress and physical exhaustion often co-occur, this is not always the case. Thus, it is important to assess their effects on marital processes both separately and in concert.

Stress and exhaustion in police

Because police work is considered to be one of the most stressful occupations, police marriages are particularly well suited to research on the effects of job stress and exhaustion. Police officers must confront organizational and management stressors (e.g., labor shortages) as well as distressing routine operational stressors (e.g., dealing with perpetrators of violence). Police work is exhausting, with officers performing physically demanding duties and often working long shifts or night shifts. Exemplifying how job stress can reverberate through all aspects of life, police officers are at high risk for divorce, alcoholism, domestic violence, emotional disturbances, and suicide.

Research suggests that spouses absorb much of police officers' stress and emotional upset. Officers' reports of emotional exhaustion and negative affective states are associated with spouses' reports of family conflict. Further adding to this situation, police officers are trained to avoid displaying emotions, and their reluctance to express emotions (including positive ones) ...